The European Risk Institute

A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

Danger:

situation, condition or practice that carries the potential to cause damage.

Determinist:
(approach)

the taking into account of all accident scenarios in hazard assessments, regardless of their probability of occurrence (even the most unlikely scenarios), which is contrary to the probabilistic approach.

Hazard:

probability that a dangerous event, characterized by its severity and duration, will occur in a certain place.

Human, material or environmental interests:

people, activities, goods, equipments, fauna and flora, threatened by a hazard and likely to undergo prejudices or damages.

Law of the 30th of July 2003:

Law for the prevention of technological and natural risks and the reparation of damages: law adopted after the accident of the 21st of September 2001 on the AZF site in Toulouse. Its principal features are: the creation of Local Committees for Information and public Consultation (CLIC), the creation of Technological Risk Prevention Plan (PPRT), the inclusion of subcontractors in the management of risks and the compensation for the victims of technological disasters.

Local committee for information and public consultation (CLIC):

a committee created for any industrial basin containing at least one Seveso establishment, under the French «risk» law of the 30th of July 2003. The committee is the setting for information exchange between the central administration, communities, industrialists, inhabitants and employees of the establishments in question, with regards to the prevention of danger and inconvenience caused by Seveso establishments.

Major risk:

where hazard meets human, economical or environmental interests: the event is generally characterized by a very low frequency and extreme severity.

Natural risk:

threat caused by hazardous geological or atmospheric phenomena; avalanches, forest fires, floods, earth movements, cyclones, storms, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are considered major natural risks when they cause important damage to men, goods or the environment.

PPRT:
Technological Risk Prevention Plan

public servitude created by the French « risk » law of the 30th of July 2003 and annexed to the Local Urban Plans (PLU). The PPRT aims to solve dangerous urban situations in the proximity of upper-tier Seveso establishments and prevent that such situations reoccur. The number of PPRT that must be created in France before the 31st of July 2008 is estimated at 300 for approximately 650 industrial establishments.

Pro-active regional management:
(regional foresight)

a rigorous process – generally carried out on a cross-disciplinary basis and in networks – which makes it possible to reveal evolutionary trends, to identify continuities, ruptures and divergences in the variables (players and factors) in the environment, as well as to determine the range of possible futures. In this way, it enables to frame coherent strategies and to improve the quality of the decision to be taken. It is one of the techniques necessary for proactivity; the attitude of those who anticipate events in their reflections, who act to provoke the changes desired, and who seize new opportunities.

Safety report:

a document created and updated by Seveso establishments, which quantifies the risks and explains the measures the operator took to reduce the risks.

Seveso directive:

the accident which occurred in the town of Seveso in Italy on the 10th of July 1976, made society conscience of major industrial risks. Consequently, the European “Seveso” directive was adopted on the 24th of June 1982 and was later replaced by the “Seveso II” directive on the 9th of December 1996. The latter simplified and enlarged the scope of the former with regards to the prevention of major accidents, the control of urbanization and public information. In France, the Seveso II directive was transposed into national legislation in the year 2000 and applies to 1150 establishments divided in two categories: upper-tier (650 establishments) and lower-tier (500 establishments).

Social sciences:

sociology, psychology, anthropology, economy, political sciences, geography, law, management, linguistics and history.

Sustainable development:

economic development that has positive long-term social and environmental benefits and meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Territorial Governance:

procedures and practices that refer to both the formal and informal processes and institutional channels that are involved in governing a bounded territory, such as a municipality, metropolitan region, or province. It includes vertical relationships among different hierarchical levels of the state system that impact a given territory as well as horizontal relationships among jurisdictional units at the same level. The concept is also inclusive of cooperative and conflictive relationships between the state sector as a whole, the private or business sector, and the community or civil sector. Finally, territorial governance must be cognizant of its own limitations to "govern" and of the extra-territorial powers that have the capacity to exert major influence over life chances within the territory-in-view.

Technological risk:

generated by economic activity, it results from the handling, production, storage, packaging or transport of dangerous substances. Risks due to industrial, nuclear, mining and subterranean activities or risks due to the transport of hazardous substances (by land, river or sea) or the threat of a dam rupture are all considered major technological risks.

Vulnerability:

susceptibility to harm, due to a dangerous event, of targets (human, material and environmental interests) in a certain area.